Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 1 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 2===

Today, Ishana was blessed again with fine weather.

Class had ended. Picking up his bag and turning to leave, Kazuma looked out of the window in the hallway.

From there the academy's courtyard could be seen clearly. What Kazuma was looking was a small building peeking from the opposite side of the thick bushes and large trees, the Cathedral.

There, the Mage’s Guild's highly classified information was stored. Amongst it, there was information related to the ''Azure''.

The more he thought about it, his thoughts toward the Azure grew stronger.

(Cathedral... Cathedral...)

Resting his elbows on the window frame, Kazuma viewed the Cathedral while biting his thumb.

What would be the best way to get in there? Be it waking or sleeping, it was all he could think about.

Since it had come to that, he had found signs of tenacity within himself. It was the first time he had experienced obsession.

"What are you looking at~?"

Trinity's gentle voice floated from behind. Kazuma turned around quite smoothly.

"Just looking outside. I was thinking that the weather is nice."

While answering Trinity's gentle smiling face with a forced smile, Kazuma secretly took a breath.

Was her attitude the same as always toward him? That thought made him worried.

Terumi's words resounded in his mind.

''——That woman is monitoring you, get it?''

(Trinity-san is monitoring... me...?)

If that's the case, the greeting just now might be a part of the monitoring.

It was like he was wearing a mask. While the mask on the surface showed a smile, underneath it was a face that paid attention to Trinity's every movement searching for any fault, any difference.

"It seems so. The weather is so nice that it brightens the mood~."

"Yes, exactly."

His mouth fluently let out cheap words. Despite that, inside his chest he was filled with suspicion, he weaved conversation like he was the same friend as he had been until yesterday.

Not showing any sign of doubt toward Kazuma's distrust, Trinity pulled her chin a bit and straightened herself again.

"Umm, Kazuma-san. Do you have any plans this afternoon?"

"Plans?"

While putting on a casual voice, Kazuma secretly frowned beneath his bangs.

Why was Trinity asking about his plana? The snake of suspicion, which had been coiling on the bottom of his stomach, raised its head.

"No, I don't have any particular plans. I'm just going to return to the dorm." 

He didn't actually have any plans, but he answered carefully to not give even a slight chance.

But Trinity turned shy while looking delighted, and then she narrowed her clear green eyes.

"If so, is it okay if I invite you?"

"...Huh?"

It was unexpected words. Kazuma couldn't understand her meaning and asked again in dull tone of voice.

Trinity's shoulders shook as she chuckled. Even now, her soft laughing voice was like the fragrance of sugar and flowers drifting about.

"Like I said, it's an invitation. If you don’t mind, Can we have tea together?"

"By tea... Are you inviting me to drink tea?"

"Yes."

Trinity nodded gently.

Kazuma's eyes began to wander as he weighed up his answer.

He couldn't make sure of Trinity's true intention. He could follow as much as her listening to his plans in order to monitor his movements. But as to the extent after that, there shouldn't be any significance unless she wanted to restrict her target's freedom. If she didn't do so, then she wouldn't be able to investigate where he was going and what he did.

No. Trinity's monitoring was probably not to investigate Kazuma's actions, but might be to restrain them. If that was the case...

"Umm, are you unwilling to accept it?"

As Trinity's voice snapped him back to reality, Kazuma hurriedly pulled a smile.

It would be suspicious to refuse the tea invitation immediately after replying he had no plans.

Kazuma quickly shook his head.

"No, absolutely not. I was just a bit surprised. It's because I never considered receiving an invitation to take tea with someone like Trinity Glassfille-san."

"Fufu. Actually, me too."

With the hand that wasn't holding her bag, Trinity touched her rosy cheek.

"I felt a little nervous to invite a man, even if he's a friend."

"What do you... mean by that?"

As he expected, he couldn’t grasp her intention. Toward Kazuma who inadvertently had a questioning look, this time, Trinity put the hand which had been on her cheek to her mouth and let out a short laugh.

"It's a secret~."

"Secret? But..."

"Okay then. Now that it's decided, let's go. The other two should have already gone ahead."

With sweet fragrance drifting about, Trinity tenderly held Kazuma's hand. She pulled him along, gently urging him forward.

"Wha-, wait, Trinity-san...?"

Even as he voiced his confusion, Trinity only gave cheerful smile.

He could escape if he shook off her hand. That option came to mind, but he couldn't do it.

Suddenly, they faced the entrance after descending the stairs. Kazuma frowned thinking of a question which was different from the other questions he had so far.

Just now, did Trinity say... 'the other two'?







"So... Why am I here..."

After his mind finally calmed down again, Kazuma showed a stiff smile while feeling compelled to complain.

Trinity had dragged Kazuma by the arm and brought him to a solitary café which was just off the main street of the island.

The store had charming appearance with bricks decorated on a white wall. Surrounding the entrance were a numbers of planters holding colorful flowers. Identical, the interior also had white walls  with irregular brick-like tiles as ornaments; the area by the windows enshrined with brightly colored potted flowers.

The guests and employees in the store were all female. Kazuma was the only exception.

"Why? Isn't it because I took you here?"

While putting a sugar cube in a very white royal milk tea, Trinity gently smiled across the table at him.

There were two other persons sat beside Kazuma who helped to encircle the round table.

To his left was a person wearing a huge smile having chosen a nutty caramel cake and a lemon tea. It was Celica.

On his right, Nine was sitting with a chocolate cake, which looked sweet, and a hot coffee.

Unexpectedly 'having tea' was exactly the opposite of calming as Kazuma felt a tense atmosphere flowing about.

By the way, there was a dish of rare cheese cake beside Trinity's royal milk tea; but in front of Kazuma, there was a straight and baked cheese cake placed.

"No, I didn't mean that. Err... Why was I invited to drink tea with Trinity-san and the others?"

He felt extremely out of place. If it hadn't been an invitation from Trinity, he would suspect it as a tasteless harassment.

While stirring her light colored tea with a spoon, Trinity meekly smiled.

"Since you looked down recently, I thought a change of pace might help~. I don't know what a man would prefer, so I'm sorry if you don't like our usual spot..."

"That's... all?"

Smoldering suspicion made Kazuma ask again.

Trinity put her fingers on her cheeks and thought a little.

"After all you've been through... I thought that having a tasty cake would be nice. Ah. Perhaps this is bothering you?"

"N-Not at all. Ha, haha..."

As if Trinity's worried face suddenly noticed, Kazuma laughed to cover it up.

(Only worried...? It can't only just be that.)

Trinity was supposed to monitor Kazuma. Probably at the instruction of Nine.

But as if relieved by Kazuma's answer, there was affection shown in Trinity's relaxed eyes which would be unthinkable to direct at a monitored target.

Trinity was always gentle. Not only Kazuma, everyone who knew her must feel it. It was unimaginable to think there was a lie in her affection. ...He didn't want to consider it if he could.

(But...)

Terumi had told him.

He couldn't fathom it. Kazuma put stirred his tea even though he hadn't taken any sugar.

Suddenly his hand stiffened.

Beyond his gaze as he inadvertently raised it, Nine's fingers, which were beautiful to the nails, were hooked round a small handle. Without even the slightest hesitation, she raised the milk pitcher for her coffee to the sky and slowly turned it upside down in one go, pouring the milk into her cup, down to the last drop.

And then one-by-one, she dropped in the sugar cubes which were provided on the table. The contents of the bowl that held the lumps decreased in the blink of an eye.

"...Umm."

Unintentionally, the confusion went out as a voice.

Suffice it to say that Nine didn't speak with friendly voice, she gave Kazuma a sharp look.

"What?"

"Oh, no. Nothing..."

Any answer would be good. When Kazuma's mouth stiffened as he desperately tried to think of something, Celica called a passing waitress.

"Excuse me, can I have gum syrup?"

"Ah, yes. I'll get it right away."

Kazuma was at a loss for words.

Without any resistance, the female waitress brought a small pitcher filled with gum syrup. Naturally it was placed in front of Nine; and naturally, Nine put it into her coffee.

Not a single drop remained of course.

Presently, the coffee inside her white cup had been transformed into something murky white from which a sweet aroma oozed; the water level went up to the rim, almost spilling.

As if it couldn't possibly spill, Nine began stirring it with a spoon.

(...Seriously?)

Kazuma slowly put his hand to his mouth.

It wasn't that Kazuma disliked sweets. However, this was an exception. It was otherworldly.

Celica cheerfully laughed when she discovered that Kazuma was petrified by Nine's shocking behavior.

"Ahaha. Surprised? Onee-chan unexpectedly has a sweet tooth."

"Sweet tooth..."

Kazuma got very uneasy thinking about whether it was okay to dismiss so casually as a sweet tooth. But he thought that he should stop arguing about that here as he had no ally in this.

Celica, Trinity, and even the waitress who brought gum syrup accepted it because it was a common scene.

"This particular amount should be normal. Don't worry, I'm doing it properly."

Nine spoke as if nothing happened, all while raising the cup with astonishing sense of balance.

(It's absolutely not normal! There's no meaning if the coffee's flavor is gone, is there!)

As he endured his desire to let his voice out, Kazuma could only give a feeble smile.

Trinity added a few words as if to deliver the final blow.

"When Nine's feeling tired, she drinks things like gum syrup directly, you know. When does that, she says her head starts working properly again~."

"...Haa, my head..."

He couldn't comprehend what a genius could do. Kazuma came to that conclusion in his innermost thoughts.

"See, rather than the dorm, Onee-chan and I live in a house on the island. The house is in this neighborhood. That's why we often come here on the way back from academy just to have tea. Since we do it all the time, we're known to the shop's staff."

Seemingly enjoying herself, Celica, while smiling wryly, bent towards Kazuma and looked at him as if telling a secret.

Kazuma backed up about twice the distance she approached him.

"O... ooh. I-I see."

Almost reflexively, he averted his eyes. He wasn't very good at being stared at.

Besides, it just be a feeling, but since the time Celica began sitting beside him, indescribable fear had assaulted him. As discomfort crawled up his spine to the back of his neck, he could feel nausea just by swallowing his saliva.

Of course, it wasn't because of what had been done to Nine's coffee.

Not noticing Kazuma's bad shape, Celica pierced a fork to her cake and stuff her cheek with a mouthful. Firmly closing her eyes and grasping the fork tightly, she groaned happily.

"Mmm~, delicious. Kazuma-san, you should try some, c'mon. The cake and tea is reaaaaally tasty."

Celica urged him to try his cake and tea, which he had not yet touched, with her sparkling eyes.

Beside her, Trinity wrapped her cheeks in both of her hands and was taken aback as she looked at Kazuma.

"Could it be~, you dislike sweet food? My apologies~."

"No, not at all. I like it. I was just puzzled by the situation just now... I'll eat now, then."

Kazuma smiled while struggling with an intense feeling of exhaustion, it felt as if he might collapse. Hooking his fingers round his cup, he drank the pleasantly fragrant tea.

It did taste good.

But Surrounding Kazuma there were still those three. Nine who held a drink that he wasn't sure was even coffee anymore while looking shooting daggers in his direction. Celica who strangely made him feel sick just by being nearby. And Trinity who was possibly monitoring him.

As he was 'having tea' while surrounded by them, it was like he didn't have the proper feeling to enjoy the tea's taste. The poor quality tea he drank in his room was very much more relaxing.

(Really, how did this come to happen...)

Presently in this baffling situation, Kazuma didn't even know what kind of expression would be good to make.